Despite headwinds, Epicor finds global business growth on the rise

New Global Growth Index monitors business growth performance in manufacturing.

Globally, manufacturing business growth has increased by 3.7 percent (to 103.7 index points) despite the fact that half of manufacturers admit they have grown under challenging circumstances.

This is one of the key findings of the annual Global Growth Index, launched today by Epicor Software Corporation, a global provider of industry-specific enterprise software to promote business growth.

The Growth Index is designed to measure the state of business growth worldwide, by tracking the performance of manufacturing businesses in 14 territories.

Taking last year’s results as a base figure (100), it has found that business growth across the globe has increased by 3.7 index points in the last 12 months, awarding the state of business growth with a score of 103.7.

Contributing to this score is a significant growth in the number of manufacturers reporting strong sales/turnover in the last 12 months—up 5 percent from last year to 70 percent overall.

A similar trend was observed with profits and product ranges, with a 3 percent boost in the number of businesses growing in each of these areas compared to last year.

Comparing figures on a global scale, the Global Growth Index shows a mixed performance from the U.S.—with manufacturers in this country outperforming global average figures in terms of expanding product ranges (66%), profits (70%) and workforce (54%), but underperforming in terms of geographic expansion (44%), and exports (also 44%).